Performance-based Seismic Risk Assessment of Urban Systems

ABSTRACT

Disaster risk mitigation has become a urgent global need. Similar to other natural hazards, earthquakes may cause significant damage on a large scale. In Europe and in other regions with dense urbanization, seismic events can heavily impact historical city centers due to the several structural fragilities. These centers are often part of the worldwide cultural heritage and their preservation is considered a strategic issue. Furthermore, earthquakes may have severe negative short-term economic effects on the impacted communities and adverse longer-term consequences for economic growth. For this reason, the development of an efficient approach for urban seismic risk assessment becomes essential. An original approach is proposed, based on performance concepts and multidisciplinary perspectives. The procedure is applied for validation to the city center of Concordia Sulla Secchia (Italy), damaged by the 2012 Pianura Padana Earthquake (PPE), comparing predicted damage scenarios with the actual post-seismic survey data.     

Gaining in impacts by leveraging the policy mix: Evidence from the European Cohesion Policy in more developed regions

This paper investigates how the overall impact of the European Cohesion Policy depends on the composition of the regional investment in Hard (infrastructure) and Soft (business and technical support) projects. The study employs a generalized propensity score (GPS) analysis in a multidimensional treatment context. In particular, the two dimensions considered are given by the Hard and Soft investments. The GPS estimation is based on a set of relevant idiosyncratic features of the regions. The second step estimates a dose–response function in a two-dimensional setting. The results confirm the existence of nonlinearities in the effect of different amounts of funds, but more importantly, show a degree of complementarity between Hard and Soft investment and that for policymakers, it is crucial to exploit such features to achieve more significant impact. The EU's more developed regions could have achieved a doubled GDP p.c. growth rate by pursuing a policy mix where Hard investments are reduced in favor of Soft investments. This improvement is comparable to the one obtained by at least doubling the available resources. The findings add to the evidence collected on the impact of the Cohesion Policy, suggesting a shift of the debate from the quantity to the quality of the expenditure pursued under the umbrella of territorial policies.     

Varia

This article opposes the view (propounded recently by O'Hara on the basis of Austin) that there is a calculated ambiguity in Aen. 1, 286–296, to the effect that Caesar the Dictator is as relevant for the interpretation as Augustus. Asserting that Vergil refers only to the latter the present author discusses particular problems, tries to elucidate the underlying historical situation and identifies it specifically with the very beginning of the principate (29 B.C.) showing i.a. that the Parthian question is not pertinent.     

Archaeologies of Aspiration: Historical Archaeology in Rural Central Sicily

Using material from a survey and excavation project in central Sicily, this paper discusses the complexities of understanding the material effects and archival data related primarily to nineteenth- and twentieth-century rural landscapes. Although it is possible to frame the relevant processes in terms of resistance and capitalist relations, the authors suggest that to understand this material within its historical context, it is necessary to identify aspirations and values related to the various overlapping as well as competing social groups with interests in the countryside, including large land-owners and institutions, leaseholders and their associates, small landholders and landless peasants.     

Early Neolithic obsidians in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean): the Su Carroppu case

All the obsidians from the undisturbed Early Neolithic (Cardial ware phase I) layer of the Su Carroppu rock-shelter (Sardinia island) were studied. Their elemental composition and that of obsidians from the Monte Arci (Sardinia) volcanic complex was determined by ion beam analysis (PIXE). A comparison between the composition of Su Carroppu artefacts, analysed non-destructively, and that of Western Mediterranean analysed in the same conditions shows that the archaeological material belongs to the SA, SB2 and SC Monte Arci-types, to the exclusion of the SB1 type. The typological/technological study of this industry allowed us to reconstruct two chaînes opératoires, for the production of blades (using predominantly SC obsidians) and of flakes (based exclusively on SA and SB2 obsidians), respectively, but on the whole, assemblage blade/bladelet production was performed somewhat preferably with SA and SB2 types. Thus, in the earliest EN culture known on the island, ancient man had, for the making of its obsidian toolkit, a highly adaptive behaviour applied to the reduction of different useful obsidian sources.     

Cyclical downturn or structural disease? The decline of the Italian economy in the last twenty years

Italy is experiencing at present the most serious economic recession of the post-war period. Between 2008 and 2013 national income fell by 9 per cent, per capita incomes by 11 per cent, and industrial production by 25 per cent; and unemployment doubled. In this essay we argue that, while this dramatic situation has been made worse by the policies of ‘expansive austerity’, its origins can be traced back to changes that took place in the 1990s (notably globalization, competition for emerging new markets and the diffusion of new technologies – ICT) to which Italy failed to react speedily or effectively by reorganizing its entire productive system. Instead, many of the reforms that have been introduced with respect to the labour market, for example, have reduced costs but in ways that have encouraged firms to stay in traditional sectors where products are poorly differentiated and of low technology content. If the Italian economy is not to become even weaker, new reforms are urgently needed to encourage innovative investment and push through to completion a restructuring of the industrial system that can no longer be deferred.